


It's Golden, like Daylight

by yuurismocha



Series: about the euphoric feeling of falling [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Free! Dive to the Future, Free! Eternal Summer, M/M, Nanase Haruka Birthday Exchange 2020, Post-Free! Eternal Summer, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25010680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuurismocha/pseuds/yuurismocha
Summary: "There's something about the nights in Iwatobi that Haru enjoyed."Or in which Haru loves Makoto and just needs to share this little fragile truth.
Relationships: Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto
Series: about the euphoric feeling of falling [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019878
Comments: 12
Kudos: 52





	It's Golden, like Daylight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [austinbarry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/austinbarry/gifts).



There’s something about the nights in Iwatobi that Haru enjoyed.

He didn’t really know if it had to do with the tiredness and soreness that his muscles carried after hours of training; or the fact that the silent street made time stop and the only sound that could be heard was the gentle waves, steadily and slowly, coming to him in harmony. He didn’t really know if it had to do with Makoto being next to him, sitting next to him on the sand even when he’s also tired, also exhausted and worried and growing. 

High School was ending and with it there’s so much happening.

At night, with the sound of the waves and the fierce gleam of the old lamp posts of the old street, Haru could pretend that he was not scared of the future that they had to hold onto. There were many promises made and Haru is sure that Makoto, no matter what, will never break them. Blinking, he sighed and rested his head on his knees after hugging them. 

_What was he even feeling?_

“Are you here, Haru-chan?” 

He looked to his left, where Makoto was sitting. His eyes were gentle, always with his heart on his sleeves, carrying it around for you to see. His love, his fascination, his determination, anything, you could see it. Yet, Haru praised himself for being able to read all of it correctly. 

It took a second too long for Haru to answer, he knew when Makoto gave him that chuckle that threw many, many, _too many_ , arrows to his heart every time he did it and it truly made no sense but seeing his friend so open to him did something. _It made sense_. “I guess no?” 

“I am literally next to you.” Haru grumbled and pressed his forehead to his folded arms now on his knees. His heart beat too fast and it was scary. It was scarier than when he fought with Makoto, it was scarier than when he was interviewed for scholarships, but it made sense. 

“Looked like you were thinking too hard.” 

“I’m tired.” 

“You sure are.” 

He hummed a reply that Makoto understood with a small giggle and it hit Haru again how connected they were. It was late and they had class in a few hours, one of their last ones. “Haru.” 

Haru liked his name when Makoto said it. No one said it like he did. He could hear him every time, all the time, Haru, Haru, Haru. There’s not much he could do, the blueness of the dawn approaching made him realize that time had kept its track. 

“I don’t want to forget this.” 

It came out of nowhere. 

Whispered like the waves on the sand in front of them. Makoto tended to do that, just think out loud next to him in the middle of the night. “I won’t forget this.” 

“Thank you,” Makoto smiled. 

Sometimes Haru wanted to yell. 

He just wanted to climb onto the roof of his empty house and scream his lungs raw. He wanted everybody in Iwatobi - every single soul - to know that he got to see Makoto like this, under the moonlight. He got to see his messy hair, he got to see how he played with the sand on his hands and how he squeezed his eyes when the wind blew too strong and failed to stay fully awake on their way back. 

But he didn’t do it because there were things that he wanted to keep to himself. He wants to keep to himself the way Makoto scrunches his nose when he’s scared or surprised. He wanted to keep to himself how Makoto likes his hot chocolate and how he only has socks with little animals on it because that’s him. 

He wished to say it, he liked his best friend. He loved his best friend in ways that were too loud to explain and too big to contain. 

“Do you remember when we sneaked out for the first time?” 

Makoto was leaning on Haru’s front door under the calm light from the moon that was still in their hometown; he was tired and mumbling and Haru liked him. He loved all of this. Makoto walks around the house without seeing, memory aiding him through the darkness of his closed eyes. “Yes?” 

“We were, what, thirteen?” 

Haru hums in agreement. 

“We got grounded when we came back home.” 

Haru remembers. The way the heavy clothes clung to his fragile body that night. The way Makoto held his hand all the way home and the way the warm water of his bathtub soothed him and his rapid heart before going to bed. He remembers the way Makoto laid down next to him and wished him a goodnight before falling asleep. 

He remembers even now, in the middle of the small rays of sun in his small Tokyo apartment that he now shares with Makoto. He remembers even when all of his friends are celebrating and singing and congratulating him on yet another year of life. He remembers even when he’s cleaning the glitter from the floor that Nagisa threw at him when he arrived home after classes. He remembers when he’s picking up bottles from the couch and covering Rei with a blanket because he passed out from a bottle of beer. He keeps replaying that moment in his head when he pushes Sousuke out of the bedroom and gives him a futon to sleep on the living room.

He remembers everything, from the moment he met Makoto in that old park in Iwatobi to the way Makoto sang Happy Birthday to him while hugging him from behind.

“Haru-chan?” He looks up from the bag full of bottles that Nagisa had brought to the party. “Oh, an eyelash.” Makoto picks the fallen eyelash from Haru’s cheek and shows it to him. “Make a wish.” 

“I think I had made enough wishes on my birthday.” 

“There’s never too many!” Makoto is so eager, always so bright, it makes Haru swallow everything and think of a wish and blow the eyelash away. The silent room at dawn reminded him of the night escapades again. 

He could hear it in the silent small room. The way the sun makes its appearance on the living room’s wall, slowly, in a colourful way that makes Makoto look so beautiful it’s unreal. The blue of the night mixes with the warmth of the upcoming sun and Haru wants to spend every dawn with Makoto. Every midnight. 

He blows on the eyelash and Makoto smiles softly, with his eyes twinkling and Haru’s life on his heart. 

He goes back to that night, when Makoto was leaning on his front door as he watched Haru move around the corridor so they could go to bed. “We got so grounded when we came back home.” He walked without seeing anything and yet.

Haru goes back to these memories because even after the few years that passed since that night he can’t still shake off the greedy feeling of keeping Makoto by his side for the rest of his life. He goes back because there is so many feelings inside him and when he stopped closing the door of his kitchen back in Iwatobi and when Haru is in front of Makoto in their little apartment in Tokyo, all he can think about is how insane he is for just blurting it out. 

“I love you.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> I hope you liked this little thing :) 
> 
> It's a rather deep concept considering what you put on your preferences! but I saw that you like Taylor Swift so the whole idea came from listening to Daylight on loop. The whole fic is a game between Midnight and Dawn, with Midnight being the moments pre relationship and Dawn being the already established relationship they have. I added little details from Lover and New Years Day and I made an inspo [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7AHYs9tv38D8pNnjTB6Sg8?si=6EQw3NDbTdCCaVYwde3fNw) !


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